Hi guys! If you’re wondering why my decor blogging screeched to a halt, it’s not because of my infamous inability to stay interested in a project until it’s completed. It’s because I had to make a life change, and a friend’s seriously affordable, seriously cute fixer-upper of an apartment became available and helped me achieve that.

The new place, unlike the boxy big-rooms-all-in-a-row 1 bedroom apartment I’m in now, is a warren of small rooms, walls that curve unexpectedly, and delightful angles. Its many windows just cry out to be lined with little green plants in pots, a look that for some reason I associate with the best of the 1970s. I must have seen a charming window full of greenery when I was very young and it made a deep aesthetic impression. I also think about Ruth Gordon’s train car home in Harold and Maude.

Image is from Apartment Therapy. I think having the shelf suspended over the window is key to achieving that charming look that’s imprinted on my childhood brain, as are the little colored glass bottles. Growing up in Readington, NJ, there was a spot in a bit of wilderness on our land that former residents had used as a dumping ground in the 19th and early 20th century. We used to dig there and find all kinds of little apothecary bottles that we’d clean up and my mom would display on the window over the sink.

There’s a lovely window beside the farmhouse sink in the new place that would be perfect for this kind of treatment. Now, how to do that and still be able to lift out the window to clean the outside (maybe some brackets on the window frame and a detachable shelf?), and how to keep plants alive which I’ve never been able to master (those As Seen on TV plant watering globes?)… but this place cries out for live plants. The natural light is only slightly better than where I am now, since it’s also a ground floor apartment, but with at least one window on each of three sides plus one at an angle, the chances of getting a ray of sunshine in for at least 15 minutes a day are increased.

When I last saw my friend who’s handing the place over to me, I asked her if there was anything in the apartment that she’d be secretly upset if I changed. I know it could be a bit tricky if you visit someplace where you used to live, that you put a lot of thought and hard work into, and still feel that sense of propriety. Wonderful woman that she is, she assured me that the place is now 100% mine and I should do whatever I want, but that she’d probably have to wait a while until she visited. I understand that, and out of respect for her, I’m not going to post pictures yet. But I will be taking them along the way as I get the place ready and move in a week from today, and I’ll save them up.

By the way, I think I’m going to stop putting breaks or “folds” in my blog posts where you have to click for more. I’ve noticed that personally, I really prefer being able to read through everything on one page, though it can get annoying to scroll through long posts with lots of pics. What do you guys think?